Tag Archives: university of michigan

Researchers create coating material to prevent blood clots associated with implanted devices

A team of researchers from UCLA and the University of Michigan has developed a material that could help prevent blood clots associated with catheters, heart valves, vascular grafts and other implanted biomedical devices.

Blood clots at or near implanted devices are thought to occur when the flow of nitric oxide, a naturally occurring clot-preventing agent generated in the blood vessels, is cut off. When this occurs, the devices can fail. (more…)

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Yale prepares for atom smasher’s farewell, sets stage for new physics era

Yale University has begun a multi-phase renovation of the former Wright Nuclear Structure Laboratory that will reinvent the landmark nuclear physics lab for a new era in physics research.

Expected to take at least three years, the project will transform the bunker-like home of what once was the world’s most powerful atom smasher of its kind into a site for teaching, research, and development related to two of the hottest topics in 21st-century physics — the study of neutrinos and the hunt for dark matter. (more…)

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Methane leaks in the US are undercounted, new study shows

ANN ARBOR — About 50 percent more of the greenhouse gas methane has been seeping into the atmosphere than previously thought, according to far-reaching findings that synthesize two decades’ worth of methane studies in North America.

Methane is the main ingredient in natural gas. (more…)

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Help for a scarred heart: Scarring cells turned to beating muscle

Poets and physicians know that a scarred heart cannot beat the way it used to, but the science of reprogramming cells offers hope—for the physical heart, at least.

A team of University of Michigan biomedical engineers has turned cells common in scar tissue into colonies of beating heart cells. Their findings could advance the path toward regenerating tissue that’s been damaged in a heart attack. (more…)

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Decoding dengue and West Nile: Researchers take steps toward control of growing public health problems

ANN ARBOR — Dengue fever and West Nile fever are mosquito-borne diseases that affect hundreds of millions of people worldwide each year, but there is no vaccine against either of the related viruses.

A team of scientists at the University of Michigan and Purdue University has discovered a key aspect both to how the viruses replicate in the cells of their host and how they manipulate the immune system as they spread. (more…)

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Miss America speaks about cultural competency

Before an audience of roughly 100 Yale students, faculty, and staff on Feb. 4 in Battell Chapel, Nina Davaluri — Miss America 2014 — shared her goal of spreading cross-cultural understanding and combating ignorance.  

Last September, 24-year old Nina Davaluri became the first woman of South Asian decent to win the Miss America pageant. Following the crowning, some critics called Davaluri a “terrorist” while others stated that she was not “American enough” to represent the United States. Students from the Asian American Cultural Center (AACC) and the South Asian Society (SAS) responded to the racist commentary by organizing a dialogue to promote cross-cultural understanding.  (more…)

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How patients make medical decisions

ANN ARBOR — Sooner or later, everyone faces decisions about whether or not to have surgery, take a new medication or have a cancer-screening test.

A new University of Michigan study published in Health Expectations explores the costs and benefits patients say are important in making these kinds of medical decisions, and how those costs and benefits explain what they actually decide to do. (more…)

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Great Lakes evaporation study dispels misconceptions, points to need for expanded monitoring program

ANN ARBOR — The recent Arctic blast that gripped much of the nation will likely contribute to a healthy rise in Great Lakes water levels in 2014, new research shows. But the processes responsible for that welcome outcome are not as simple and straightforward as you might think.

Yes, extreme winter cold increases ice cover on the Great Lakes, which in turn reduces evaporation by preventing water vapor from escaping into the air. But this simplistic view of winter ice as a mere “cap” on Great Lakes evaporation is giving way to a more nuanced conception, one that considers the complex interplay among evaporation, ice cover and water temperature at different times of year. (more…)

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